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Climate and altitude

Submitted by Passivhaus Trus... on Tue, 09/15/2015 - 09:54

Entering the altitude of your site is important. Most of the data sets are from locations less than 50 metres above sea level, and if your site is significantly higher than the weather station this could easily add 1 kWh or more to the heating demand. Conversely some sets are at quite high altitude – the Severn climate data set for instance uses data from RAF Lynham, which is at 150 metres.

Based upon research carried out by BRE in 2010, there are now 22 climate data sets in the UK which are now included within PHPP. These data sets are used in all certified Passivhaus buildings within the UK. Originally 12 boroughs in Central London formed data set Region 1; these boroughs take into consideration the urban heat island effect in dense urban areas and were ratified by the Passivhaus Institute.

The climate data sets are as follows:

1 Central London

2 Thames Valley

3 South East England

4 South England

5 South West England

6 Severn

7 Midlands

8 West Pennines

9 NW England/SW Scotland

10 Borders

11 North East England

12 East Pennines

13 East Anglia

14 Wales

15 West Scotland

16 East Scotland

17 North East Scotland

18 Highlands

19 Western Isles

20 Orkney

21 Shetland

22 Northern Ireland

London Boroughs

Although the London Borough of Camden was originally excluded from the Region 1 data set, the UK based certifiers and BRE have agreed to now include all buildings within Camden borough within Region 1 – Central London, this is due to the central location of Camden, existing building stock, and the performance of completed Passivhaus buildings within the Camden borough.

The following London boroughs can now be used for ‘Region 1 – Central London’:

• Hammersmith and Fulham

• Kensington and Chelsea

• Westminster

• Camden

• Islington

• City of London

• Hackney

• Tower Hamlets

• Newham

• Lewisham

• Southwark,

• Lambeth

• Wandsworth.

It is recommended that all other London boroughs should adopt Region 2 – Thames Valley.